We asked BBC chief Tony Hall what he was going to do about Jeremy Clarkson

BBC director general Tony Hall said today he was not going to
listen to speculation surrounding the future of Jeremy Clarkson
at "Top Gear" before making his decision on the presenter's
future.

Clarkson was suspended by the BBC last week after he admitted to
a role in "a fracas" with BBC producer Oisin Tymon during the
filming of the show. Clarkson reportedly punched Tymon after he
and the rest of the Top Gear crew were not served hot food as
they returned to their hotel after a day of shooting.

Hall is under some pressure to fire Clarkson outright — the star
has been responsible for a series of embarrassing headlines for
the BBC, including an incident in which he was shown using the
n-word in a video.

That was the context going into Hall's speech today at the Enders
Analysis conference in London for media executives. Hall gave an
impassioned defence of the BBC licence fee, which is under review
by the government and may be restructured as some sort of
household fee or tax.

But in the Q&A session, the first two people to the
microphone both asked about Clarkson.

Hall began: "I thought for one
glorious moment, you know ..." (that he might not get a Clarkson
question), a joke that drew laughs. "The most important thing is
to gather the facts around you and not listen to all the
speculation and let me tell you I will gather the facts and make
my decision based on a whole raft of things."

Business Insider then asked
him, as the manager of a large organisation, whether it was
healthy to keep staff on board who might be punching their
colleagues. "You should gather the facts from the
people concerned before you make your decision and that's exactly
what I'm doing," Hall said, to more laughter.